Along with assistance from Iowa State students, they've developed a flexible, stretchable, and tunable "meta-skin" that uses rows of small liquid-metal devices to cloak objects from radar by reducing the reflection of a wide range of radar frequencies. This makes it different from traditional stealth technologies that only reduce the power reflected back to a probing radar. It also makes the meta-skin one step closer to helping conceal aircraft entirely.

Dong, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering, and Song, professor of electrical and computer engineering, are continuing to develop meta-skin materials that could continue to change the world of stealth technology. "The long-term goal is to shrink the size of these devices," Dong said. "Then, hopefully, we can do this with higher frequency electromagnetic waves." Which could help produce a form of meta-skin that might someday coat the surface of stealth aircraft to make them invisible to radar devices of all kinds.